The information presented here is derived from a database of all 6,185 opticians (ophthalmic establishments) in England and the point location of those which could be accurately geo-referenced. It shows the static point locations of opticians which were operating in December 2006.

It is important to note that the data provide information about the location of ophthalmic establishments and not a count of opticians or ophthalmic staff in England. Details of mobile optical practices, that visit homes, day centres and residential care homes and ophthalmic hospitals (secondary care) are not included in this dataset.

The data form a subset of information collected from a database of all public health service establishments in England. This was the best data source available for the location of primary care services, in December 2006. This is maintained by NHS Connecting for Health (formerly National Health Service Information Authority, NHSIA). This does not include data from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are maintained by their own teams.

Speckle the Cat says "If you need glasses in Plumstead, see your local Optician!"